The First Donation of Matisse’s Works by L.N. Delektorskaya

1967

One of the rooms of the Hermitage devoted to the work of Henri Matisse, the great 20th-century artist (1869-1954), displays two female portraits which he made in 1939 and 1947. They were donated to the museum by the woman whose face was captured by the artist on these canvases. However, the donor did not allow her name to be disclosed and for a long time the labels merely showed her initials: "L.D." It was only much later that they were deciphered as "Lydia Delektorskaya".

Lydia Nikolayevna Delektorskaya (1910-1998) was Matisse’s model, his secretary and friend. She appears on many canvases and in many of his drawings. Beginning in 1967, she donated to the Hermitage drawings, sculptures and also books which were designed and illustrated by Matisse. The latter were art books that were published in very small print runs, sometimes as few as 5 copies. Delektorskaya also purchased at her own expense those of Matisse’s books which she herself did not own in order to donate them to the museum and thereby make the Hermitage collection complete.

If it were not for Lydia Delektorskaya’s generous gifts, the Hermitage would not today possess the artist’s graphics, sculptures or the two portraits, which are the only paintings from Matisse’s late period in the museum collection.